~ by Terry Walters
Matthew 7:3-5
I was perhaps the world's pickiest eater growing up.
Because of that, I almost never ate a school lunch.
I took my lunch some in grade school
and every day in high school. But in grade school,,br>I usually went home for lunch.
We just lived a few blocks away.
I would run home or ride my bike
and there was plenty of time to eat and
get back to school for the noon recess.
Except for one time. It was warm out
so the heavy back door to the house was open,
letting air in through the wooden screen door.
I was facing the door as it slammed shut
and something flew into my eye!
It hurt; my eye immediately started to water.
My mom checked it out but couldn't see anything.
It still hurt. We flushed it with water,
but whatever flew in was still there.
We gave up and drove to Decatur to the ER.
Before long, with bright lights, magnifying glasses,
tweezers, and steady hands they removed a tiny piece of
screen wire that had broken off and flown in my eye,
embedding itself into my eye.
A little eye ointment and I was fine.
The afternoon at school was shot,
but that didn't bother me,
and I had a great story for the next day!
While the ordeal was going on,
I was in no condition to help anyone else.
I couldn't even take care of myself.
My own vision was impaired, and my judgment
was off due to pain and the bad vision.
That's why it's not right for us to judge people
or even think we can be much help to them
until after we get our own problems fixed.
Ultimately, though, it's God who will have to fix them anyway.
Prayer: Father, forgive us when we try to do
Your job of judging and fixing people!
Help us do the works of repentance and growth
so we can clearly see how we should live
and then have the courage to do so.
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